Feeding and reproduction of Calanus finmarchicus during non-bloom conditions in the Irminger Sea

Daniel J. Mayor*, Thomas R. Anderson, Xabier Irigoien, Roger Harris

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Simultaneous ingestion and egg production experiments were conducted with female Calanus finmarchicus in April/May and July/August 2002 in the Irminger Sea. Experimental animals were provided with natural microplankton food assemblages and incubated under in situ conditions for 24 h. The quantity of food consumed was significantly related to the concentration of prey cells, with total daily ingestion rates ranging from 0.6 to 8.1 μg of carbon female -1 day-1, corresponding to carbon-specific rates of 0.6-4.7% day-1. Egg production rates (EPRs) remained relatively low (0.3-11 eggs female-1 day-1) during both periods of investigation and were not influenced by food availability. The data were used to construct energetic budgets in which the microplankton carbon ingested, including ciliates, was compared with the carbon utilized for egg production and respiration. These budgets showed that ingestion alone could not provide the necessary carbon to sustain the observed demands for growth and metabolism. Although ciliates constituted >80% of the total material ingested at times, they were not sufficient to provide the metabolic shortfall. Indeed, the females were typically lacking ∼5 μg of carbon each day, ∼5% of their carbon biomass. Our study results highlight the possible importance of internal reserves in sustaining reproduction in C. finmarchicus during periods of food scarcity.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1167-1179
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Plankton Research
Volume28
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2006
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was funded by the NERC ‘Marine Productivity’ Thematic Programme (grant no. NER/ T/S/2001/00141). Thanks to Derek Harbour for the microplankton analysis. Thanks also to Magda Szuman.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Aquatic Science
  • Ecology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Feeding and reproduction of Calanus finmarchicus during non-bloom conditions in the Irminger Sea'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this